Should I use an online divorce site for a fast divorce in Virginia?

Online divorce websites that purport to help you draft paperwork are mostly garbage.

Consider the following:

1. Foreign owned: Some are owned by foreign entities. And they want you to input sensitive information Does that seem like a good idea? Only if you don’t care if your identity is stolen.

2. Illogical: If you check out those websites – the ones that offer a divorce for $199, or $299, or something like that – you’ll notice they claim they produce documents for every state. How is that possible? Most counties in Virginia have different requirements! They don’t care – they’re just taking your money without any responsibility.

3. Dangerous: Beyond the concern of identity theft, the online divorce sites are otherwise dangerous. For example, one client of ours had previously used such a website, then realized it wasn’t a good idea. We reviewed the paperwork to be filed with the court. The paperwork contained addressed, full birthdates, social security numbers, and everything else needed for identity theft. In Virginia all that information goes into private addendums that are not part of the public record.

4. Substance: The documents produced by the online divorce websites are usually substantively deficient. And when we say usually – we mean almost always.

For the most part, online divorce websites make false promises, and are dangerous – and therefore, they are a ripoff.